The State

A man with alleged family ties to organized crime has been released from prison because of jury “errors” four years after he was convicted of a gang-style slaying that he claimed was self-defense. Salvatore Marino, 38, left San Quentin Prison only hours after a federal appellate court judge cleared the way for his release. Marino had been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to nine years in prison. He admitted shooting Peter Catelli once in the head at point-blank range in 1977 in San Jose. Marino said Catelli tried to extort money from his family, and claimed the shooting was self-defense. Last June, a federal court magistrate found that three jurors committed “prejudicial errors” during deliberations in the 1982 trial. Two of the jurors admitted using a dictionary definition of the term “malice,” rather than a legal definition.